The Lead

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine launched a first-of-its-kind iPhone app as an easy-to-use research tool that will enable users to help advance the understanding of the health of the human heart.

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Generating the equivalent of a trillion light bulbs – more power than the whole national grid, but delivered in incredibly short flashes, a new international science facility will give British researchers unprecedented access to the inner working of cells.

Hamilton Storage Technologies, an affiliate entity of Hamilton Company, and Askion this week announced a partnership to combine expertise in robotic automation at ultra-low and cryopreservation temperatures. This partnership makes it possible to introduce the Askion C-line cryopreservation portfolio to several new markets, including North America and South America.

Houston Methodist Research Institute scientists will receive about $1.25 million from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space to develop an implantable, nanochannel device that delivers therapeutic drugs at a rate guided by remote control. The device's effectiveness will be tested aboard the International Space Station and on Earth's surface.

A collaboration has been announced between Agilent Technologies and the Univ. of Toronto’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research to produce a comprehensive metabolomics multiple-reaction monitoring library and methodology, using Agilent’s Infinity 1290 UHPLC, 6460 triple quadrupole mass spectrometry system, and MassHunter Software. The goal is to accelerate quantification of hundreds of metabolically important compounds.

An ambitious health startup from Google is teaming up with biotechnology drugmaker AbbVie in a $500 million joint venture that will try to develop new ways to treat cancer and other diseases such as Alzheimer's. The alliance announced Wednesday calls for Google Inc. and AbbVie Inc. to each invest $250 million in the project. An additional $1 billion may be poured into the project.

Several prominent leaders in neuroscience research have announced the formation of a collaboration aimed at making databases about the brain more usable and accessible for neuroscientists. With funding from GE, these institutions, which include the Kavli Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will soon embark on this year-long project.

Popping the blisters on the bubble wrap might be the most enjoyable thing about moving. But now, researchers led by 2007 R&D Magazine Scientist of the Year George Whitesides propose a more productive way to reuse the popular packing material: as a sheet of small, test tube-like containers for medical and environmental samples. Analyses can take place right in the bubbles.

Scientists in Switzerland have developed a fast and accurate method for determining exactly which proteins cause allergies to milk. The novel approach, which is based on a specialized form of laser desorption-ionization mass spectrometry, is highly personalized and can extend to other foods as well.

In a basement laboratory at Fort Sam Houston military base in Texas, a research team has spent the last two years simulating improvised explosive device blasts on postmortem pig eyes using a high-powered shock tube. Their most striking discovery is that these blasts can damage the optic nerve, and these injuries can occur even at low pressures, causing visual defects that until now have been associated traumatic brain injuries.

Biochrom Ltd, a manufacturer of scientific instruments, and Gilson, a leader in fluidics, purification and sample management, announced an agreement to co-market and distribute in Europe products for automation of ELISAs and other absorbance assays. The partnership combines the strength of the EZ Read range of microplate readers from Biochrom, with Gilson’s innovative line of liquid handling systems.

A new “lab-on-a-chip” platform developed at the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Spain is capable of detecting detect very low concentrations of protein cancer markers, enabling diagnoses of the disease in its earliest stages. The device, just a few square centimeters in size, uses recent advances in plasmonics, nano-fabrication, microfluids and surface chemistry.

Counterfeit or adulterated olive oil has been a persistent presence on the market, in part because the oil is difficult to track. An invisible label, developed by researchers in Switzerland, could perform this task. The tag consists of tiny magnetic DNA particles encapsulated in a silica casing and mixed with the oil. Just a few grams of the new substance are enough to tag the entire olive oil production of Italy.

On the less glamorous side of space exploration, there’s the more practical problem of waste: in particular, what to do with astronaut pee. But rather than ejecting it into space, scientists are developing a new technique that can turn this waste burden into a boon by converting it into fuel and much-needed drinking water.

The Japanese scientist accused of falsifying data in a widely heralded stem-cell research paper said Wednesday the results are valid despite mistakes in their presentation. Haruko Obokata, 30, struggled to maintain her composure during a televised news conference packed with hundreds of reporters, but insisted she did not tamper with the data to fabricate results.

Researchers have discovered that the so-called HOPE method allows tissue samples to be treated such that they do not only meet the requirements of clinical histology, but can still be characterized later on by modern methods of proteomics, a technique that analyzes all proteins at once. This differs from the traditional formalin-based approach that cross-links protein molecules.

New research is focusing on enhancing poplar trees so they can break down easier and thus improving their viability as a biofuel. The long-term efforts and teamwork involved to find this solution can be described as a rare, top-down approach to engineering plants for digestibility.

As the Earth’s human population marches toward 9 billion, the need for hardy new varieties of grain crops has never been greater. It won’t be enough to yield record harvests under perfect conditions; new grains must also be able to handle stress from climate changes. Researchers in Michigan have recently identified a set of genes that could be key to the development of the next generation of super rice.

Wounds may heal more quickly if exposed to low-intensity vibration, report researchers at the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago. The finding, in mice, may hold promise for the 18 million Americans who have type 2 diabetes, and especially the quarter of them who will eventually suffer from foot ulcers. Their wounds tend to heal slowly and can become chronic or worsen rapidly.

A new organ has been developed at George Washington Univ. to help return blood flow from veins lacking functional valves. A rhythmically contracting cuff made of cardiac muscle cells surrounds the vein acting as a 'mini heart' to aid blood flow through venous segments. The cuff can be made of a patient’s own adult stem cells, eliminating the chance of implant rejection.

A new microfluidic method for evaluating drugs commonly used for preventing heart attacks has found that while aspirin can prevent dangerous blood clots in some at-risk patients, it may not be effective in all patients with narrowed arteries. The study, a first in the examination of heart attack prevention drugs, used a device that simulated blood flowing through narrowed coronary arteries to assess effects of anti-clotting drugs.